title: On-spot brilliant cresyl blue staining in fine needle aspiration, a novel technique for cytological diagnosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Application of on-spot staining with brilliant cresyl blue, a supravital stain, was investigated in fine needle aspirates from breast, lymph node and thyroid.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with palpable breast lumps, lymph nodes and thyroid nodules were included in the study. Brilliant cresyl blue was used to stain the smears, which were evaluated for smear adequacy as well as cytological diagnosis. Smears were decolorized and subjected to Pap and/or HE staining for comparison.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Smears which were deemed hemorrhagic on the first attempt with brilliant cresyl blue correlated with Pap staining; then sites were reaspirated within minutes to obtain satisfactory cellular smears. Morphologically, cells which were designated malignant on supravital staining were mostly malignant on Pap/HE staining.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On-spot brilliant cresyl blue staining increases the diagnostic potential on preliminary examination by decreasing the staining time and is as good as conventional stains in exhibiting cellular morphology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh, India.
authors.forename: Lateef Ahmad
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Sofi
authors.forename: Rana K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Sherwani
authors.forename: Mehboob
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasan
authors.forename: Hage
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nobin
mesh_terms: D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle / Q000379:methods*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003581:Cytodiagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D010078:Oxazines; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D013048:Specimen Handling; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000175:diagnosis; D016707:Tissue Fixation
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D010078:Oxazines; C006797:Brilliant Cresyl Blue